IceHogs News

SAN JOSE -- A Shark for all of two months at the end of the 2007-08 season, Brian Campbell still incurred the wrath of his former fans in Game 1 Sunday. Every time the Chicago Blackhawks' defenseman touched the puck he was booed -- loudly.

It was strange to hear because it's not as if Campbell ever has said a bad word about the Sharks, the Bay Area or the intelligent fans here. He also never made a promise that he would sign a long-term contract when Sharks GM Doug Wilson traded for him on Feb. 26, 2008.

And, as an article posted Monday on ESPN.com pointed out, if Campbell stayed in San Jose, Dan Boyle would not be here right now. The fans here love Boyle, and he's emerged as the Sharks' ice-time and emotional leader.

Either way, Campbell said he kind of enjoys hearing the booing. He touched on that and various other topics when he talked with the media Tuesday morning prior to Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals (10 p.m. ET, VERSUS, TSN, RDS).

Q: Is it weird to hear the boos?

Campbell: "No. I hear them, yeah. I want to hold on to the puck longer. It feels good to me. It doesn't affect me. I've played in this building (five) times since I left, so you get used to it. I've moved on and I'm fine with that."

Q: Are the boos motivating at all?

Campbell: "Sometimes, I guess. I don't think there is any less motivation there. I want to win this series, I want to keep going. I know I'm very hungry for this and all of our guys, we learned a lot from last year, making it to the conference final. We had some let-up in our game because we thought we won everything. We know what we have to get to the next series and we're all excited about doing it together."

Q: If you look at the ice time from last game, and granted there were no power plays, but a lot of you D-men are up there in minutes while Jordan Hendry is down under 10. How does that affect the rest of the D when you five have to pick up more ice?

Campbell: "It doesn't really affect us a whole lot. I think it's what we're used to playing and it doesn't change anything for us. You know, Jordan is doing what he's got to do and he's playing great. I don't know. I think we probably all say at the end of the game that we'd all like more ice time."

Q: You're a power-play guy, so did it seem strange to you Sunday that you couldn't get your 20 minutes of ice time in because you guys had no power plays?

Campbell: "Yeah, I talked to one of our assistant coaches about it. I don't mind as long as we're winning games. It'll come, so I'm not too worried about it."

Q: I'd imagine you guys realize the opportunity to go up 2-0 on the road is rare?

Campbell: "Yeah, we've been focused since the end of the Nashville series and especially in the Vancouver series to try to put the hammer down and go after games. In the Vancouver series it didn't really work out in our building, which is disappointing, but we stuck with it. Tonight, nothing changes. It's just a Game 2 and it's an opportunity to keep pushing the pace. We just have to win another game."

Q: Is there a simpler formula that you guys use on the road?

Campbell: "I don't think you look at it as being simpler and there is no game plan that is simpler, but I think it's just that you're not in front of your fans and you don't have to do anything special sometimes, so you may gut it out a little more. We're worried about the road now, but obviously we need to do a better job at home. You muck it up when you're all together on the road and you really want to do it for each other."

Q: Does it say something about the character of a team when you have success on the road in the playoffs?

Campbell: "Yeah, we're a tight team and we've been on the road for eight or nine days, whatever it is now. We've spent a lot of time together. Maybe we get mad at each other in the dressing room and go out and take it out on the ice. We do have a lot of character guys that want to play hard not only for themselves but for each other. It's a nice dressing room."

Q: They had 45 shots in Game 1, so if you are looking at several keys one of them would have to be cutting them to at least under 40, right?

Campbell: "Yeah, and we want to get off to a better start. I think we had 40 shots, too, so it was pretty even in that aspect. I know they had probably about 14 on their power play so we have to do a better job there and not lose that momentum of taking penalties."